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The flu vaccine turned out to be a big disappointment again. The vaccine didn't work against a flu bug that popped up halfway through the past flu season, dragging down overall effectiveness to 29%, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. The flu shot was working well early in the season with effectiveness put at 47% in February. But it was virtually worthless during a second wave driven by a tougher strain, at just 9%. (6/27)

Amid a surge in hepatitis A cases across the United States, an advisory panel for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending vaccination against the virus for children and teens who have not been immunized, as well as HIV patients. Previously, hepatitis A vaccination was recommended for children ages 12 to 23 months. (Howard, 6/27)

Thirteen years ago, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended hepatitis A shots for all U.S. children at age 1. On Thursday, the panel said the shots should be given to older children who weren't vaccinated earlier, including 14- to 18-year-olds who turned 1 before the recommendation was made. (6/27)

HPV, or human papilloma virus, is a common sexually transmitted disease, and while most cases are harmless, some types of the virus can cause genital warts and cancer. Researchers reviewed 40 studies of HPV infection in 14 high-income countries, with data from more than 60 million people followed for up to eight years after vaccination. The study is in The Lancet. They found that the prevalence of HPV 16 and 18, which cause most cases of cervical cancer, decreased over the period by 83 percent among girls ages 13 to 19, and by 66 percent among women 20 to 24. (Bakalar, 6/27)

Ethan Lindenberger — the 18-year-old who famously got vaccinated against his mother’s wishes — is in New York City today to speak at a high-level United Nations event on combating vaccine misinformation. But the recent high school graduate’s planned appearance has sparked an onslaught of harassment by the anti-vaccination individuals, who have flooded the phone lines of UNICEF, which is hosting the event. (Thielking, 6/28)

The national measles outbreak — numbering more than 1,000 cases so far — hasn't hit Kansas yet, but it has crept awfully close to home. State health officials think a case in Kansas looks nearly inevitable. And the state’s annual survey of kindergartener vaccination rates suggests some counties do better than others at getting little kids their potentially life-saving shots of MMR vaccine. (Llopis-Jepsen, 6/27)

Hospitals and other employers who require workers be immunized against the flu, measles and other infectious diseases would not be able to fire or punish employees who refuse to receive such vaccines under a bill pending in Ohio's House. Meanwhile, state senators added to the state budget bill a provision that would make it clear that private schools can deny enrollment to students who aren't vaccinated, even for religious reasons. (Borchardt, 6/27)

Vaccination opponents are mounting a show of force in Kansas, despite recent outbreaks across the country of measles – a disease easily prevented with a shot. A state agency wants to require vaccinations against hepatitis A and meningitis for school-age children. But dozens of people – including young mothers clutching babies – protested the plan Thursday during a packed public hearing in Topeka. (Shorman, 6/27)